There's Nothing Democratic About Democrats

Once again, the boys and girls over at Raising Dough ... er, Raising Kaine, demonstrate that Democrats are a bunch of phonies.

This time, they're advertising a rally for the absurdly misnomered "Employee Free Choice Act," which is actually legislation which would allow union bosses to avoid the inconvenience of a democratic election among workers to decide whether to unionize.

Now, it's not bad enough that Federal labor law allows a majority of those workers voting in an election to impose a union upon all workers in a bargaining unit (a little provision that required Congress to pass an exception to the anti-trust/anti-monopoly laws). Among the first despicable acts of what we can expect to be a despicable Democrat majority will be to pass a monstrosity of a law to allow union bosses to obtain monopoly representation power without a secret-ballot election.

And so, the anti-democratic ideology of modern Democrats is exposed for all to see. Of course, we all know of Democrats' behavior in Florida in 2000, some of which continues today. They didn't like the results of a free election, so they have done their best to delegitimize President Bush's victory. This effort simply re-confirms what any informed Americans know: Democrats don't like democracy, especially when it frustrates their Socialist agenda.

Of course, workers are subject to a great deal of pressure by union bosses. I have personally represented individuals who were told that signing a union card didn't obligate them (a lie), but merely was a vehicle for getting more information on the union. It was only when forced union dues was seized from their wages --- and they were told by the "representative" that they could not stop dues deductions for a year --- that they learned that this was a lie.

The misnomered "Employee Free Choice Act" is simply an invitation to fraud. Brought to you by those same "Democrats" who delegitimize elections they lose, brought you "Auto Fraudo" voter registration, and won't even require voters to display legitimate identification when they vote.

Nothing says more about the "Party of the People" than their continuing contempt for democratic processes.

For more information on this fraud-fraught attack on worker freedom, see here.

Who's the Bully?

It seems that the children at Raising Dough ... er, Raising Kaine demonstrate as much class in victory as they did in the campaign.

Occoquan Supervisor Race

Well, after a considerable break for professional and familial obligations (I spent a very depressing Election Night in possibly the worst place for a Conservative on a bad Republican night: Boston), I'm trying to get back into the blogging swing of things, and the first race I'll address is the one to replace Corey Stewart as Occoquan District Supervisor.

For the Republicans, of course, the race is between Stewart-endorsed Mike May and John Gray. May previously ran in the five-way GOP race in 2003, losing the GOP nomination to Corey Stewart. He is closely associated with Congressman Tom Davis.

Gray, of course, also ran in 2003, for the Democrat nomination, losing to Keith Scarborough, who went on to defeat in the General election. Gray reemerged in 2006, running for the GOP nomination for Chairman against Corey Stewart.

While I wasn't at the Convention, having a long-scheduled vacation to Canada, by all reports, Gray conducted himself with considerably more dignity than some of his supporters, took his loss well, and worked hard to elect Stewart as Chairman. Hence (perhaps), Stewart's enthusiasm for Gray's nomination as his successor.

It's been twelve years since the Youngs moved from Occoquan to Dumfries, and I don't pretend to know the dynamics of this race, or of the current Occoquan electorate. I've seen plenty of Gray signs on the way to church. But I don't sense much enthusiasm for either candidate among GOP regulars.

It seems that, on the other side of the aisle, the fix was in for Jeff Dion, a political neophyte. There was initially much speculation that Occoquan Mayor Earnie Porta would run, but it appears that he's keeping his powder dry for the House seat to be vacated by long-time incumbent Michele McQuigg, who is by far the best candidate running to succeed Dave Mabie as Clerk of the Court.

This could get very interesting. I attend church (St. Matthew's Lutheran, in Lake Ridge) with Dion, along with his ex-wife and their two children. I've actually been to his home, for a "Tables of Eight" event with two other couples, Dion, and his "significant other." So I've "broken bread" with him in more than one sense.

The Democrats have made a huge mistake. Dion's nomination will, however, give proof to the worst beliefs that Republicans hold about the Democrat Party and its far-Left agenda.

CORRECTION: It has been reported to me that Corey Stewart has endorsed Mike May for his former seat. While I have not confirmed this with Corey, it should be noted that my statement above was apparently a misimpression.

A New Record

Well, for those critics who bemoan my rather small readership, I note that I received today a comment on a post written fifteen months ago! It's worth linking to, if for no other reason than to note that fact.

BTW, Karen, I'm sure you're just as smart as I am ... if nevertheless misguided. ;-)

Celebrity Death Trifecta

First Ed Bradley; now, Jack Palance.

Who's next in the Celebrity Death Trifecta?

Hope in a Recount?

I suppose I'll help if one is sought, and hope for the best.

But if Virginia's experience of last year is any indication, Republicans have little cause to be hopeful about the results of a recount. However, Virginians have substantial reason to be proud of the integrity of our electoral process.

Even when it produces results as sickening as a Jim Webb victory.

Democrat Voting Republican Tomorrow

Courtesy of Cathouse Chat, we learn that prominent SF writer Orson Scott Card, a Democrat, will be voting Republican tomorrow.

All I can say is that, if he is at all indicative that some still self-identified Democrats aren't yet brain dead, it will be sweet to listen to the moonbats howl after Tuesday.

Jim Webb --- Man of Courage

Interesting. Opened my Pot. News this morning to find an ad from the National Right to Work Committee, a sister organization to the one for which I work, about the impending Senate race.

It notes that Democrat candidate Jim Webb has refused to answer the Committee's survey on Right to Work issues.

Doubtless secure in the knowledge that answering the survey would: (a) if his answers demonstrate support for Virginia's working men and women, offend his far-Left moonbat supporters, and dry up all of that forced-dues money driving his campaign; or (b) if his answers demonstrate his contempt for Virginia law and for Virginia's working men and women, demonstrate that he has crawled into bed with his far-Left moonbat supporters, he has simply chosen to not answer it.

Oh, what a courageous man that Jim Webb is! Chalk this one up in the same vein of his association with John Kerry (whose hand he wouldn't shake for twenty years, until he thought that Kerry could help him achieve high elective office) and Bill Clinton (whom, Webb once correctly observed, had the most corrupt presidency in modern American history).

Aside from running the sleaziest campaign in Virginia history, Virginians should consider that a man who wants to tout his courage and independence has behaved like a wet noodle in the presence of those who lead the Democrat Party.

Should we really expect more if he is actually elected?

Extreme Makeover --- Campaign Edition

You've got to love the Jim Webb campaign.

After months of slinging mud and offering no content, he offers a weekend of tasteless pablum, apparently in the hopes that Virginians will forget that he has run perhaps the sleaziest campaign in Virginia history.

One can only hope that Virginians are not stupid enough to buy the makeover.

Another Bush Administration Failure

Saddam sentenced to die for crimes against humanity.

And the far Left blogosphere remains silent.

Useful Idiots Oppose Amendment 1

Rick Sincere reports that a virtual "usual suspects" list of "prominent" [read: "those with whom I agree on this issue"] Republicans are opposing Amendment 1, the Marshall-Newman marriage amendment.

That this type of "Republican," i.e., neither reliable nor much of a Republican, would parrot the far Left lies about the "dangers" of Amendment 1 is pathetic.

Even more's to pity if they actually believe them.

It's Amazing What You Can Get Away With When You're Shameless

Priceless!

Democrats uninterested in reports that the Clintons rearranged the White House furniture by launching items at one another's heads are now defending a scumbag who has raised questions about George Allen's relationship with his ex-wife.

Bold words from a supporter (the aforementioned scumbag) of a man with three ex-wives.

Why haven't Jim Webb and his paid Internet bloggers condemned this behavior? I've seen only one (tepid) statement of non-support, and it was, of course, coupled with a condemnation of Allen and his campaign.

If Jim Webb won't prevail upon his supporters to act in a civilized manner, he certainly doesn't deserve election to the United States Senate.

Then again, no substanceless boob deserves election to the United States Senate.

Another Fraud Against The Marriage Amendment

The continuing fraudulent campaign against the Marshall-Newman Marriage Amendment is sickening. Now another --- you guessed it! --- Democrat Delegate has come out against it.

The root of the argument against the Marriage Amendment is the notion that we could suffer unintended consequences because activist judges may apply it contrary to its intent.

In short, the far Left fears that judges will treat this provision in the same way that far Left judges have treated other statutory and constitutional provisions for the last 80-100 years.

While the irony is delicious, perhaps this fear will force the far Left into respect for and utilization of the democratic processes that they have chosen to ignore during that period. After all, to insure that these Chicken Little predictions don't come to pass, leftists will have to support the kind of judges who won't read their own values into statutory/constitutional provisions, and won't re-write the law to suit their own preferences. In short, judges who are unlike those championed by the far Left.

And once again, the far Left demonstrates their utter hypocrisy. "Judicial activism is OK, so long as it's our activists," the far Left is telling us. The possibility of conservative judicial activism is a reason to ignore the democratic will.

Despicable.

John Kerry: Intellectualoid

Among the more popular strategems of the Democrat Party is the notion that Conservatives and/or Republicans --- and Republican Presidents particularly --- aren't very smart. Ann Coulter quantifies this intellectualoid arrogance in her book Slander. And while one might have thought that our friends on the Left would have realized that this smug, self-satisfied attitude doesn't particularly resonate well with voters (certainly, it's not likely to persuade self-identified Conservatives or Republicans), they just keep it up. It's a vanity gone wild.

Witness the Poodle's (AKA John Kerry) most recent and prominent contribution to the public discourse:

“You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don’t you get stuck in Iraq.”

You can watch the video here.

Now, I have no doubt that the Poodle and/or his apologists will say that he wasn't attacking those who serve, save for President Bush. They will probably say that he was simply belittling the President for his well-known diminished intellectual ability and the fact that his dismal academic record is one reason why American troops are in Iraq. Of course, they will be conceding sub silentio the Poodle's imprecision in the use of the English language --- perhaps he would have been more precise in French --- but never mind that.

Lest we not forget, however, the Poodle's GPA at Yale was one point lower than the President's.

Memorably Horrible Ads

About a decade back, we were driving through Atlanta, to visit the wife's family, and spotted a billboard off of I-85, and I've always remembered it. I guess that ad agent earned his pay for that week.

It was for the Shallowford Vasectomy Center, advertising itself as "Not your usual clip joint."

Ouch!

Washington radio now has a comparable ad, one I heard while driving in this morning. WMAL was on the radio, and it had an ad that started out with "Has your ED medication --- Viagra, Cialis, etc. --- let you down in the past?...."

I don't know what they were advertising, but I couldn't help but remember that billboard in Atlanta....

Pro-Homo Employer Declares War On Normality And Its Advocates

H/T to James Atticus Bowden, who first reported on the firing of a Harrisonburg man fired for daring to express an opinion differing from his employer's:

Harrisonburg Man Fired for Supporting Marriage Amendment

RICHMOND – A Harrisonburg man was fired from his job last week apparently for displaying a sign in his personal vehicle that showed his support for Virginia’s Constitutional Amendment defining marriage.

“It appears that Mr. Padilla’s civil rights have been violated in an egregious act of viewpoint discrimination and violation of his right to free speech,” said Victoria Cobb, spokesperson for va4marriage.org. “It is abundantly clear that those who seek to impose same-sex marriage on society are not at all interested in tolerance of other viewpoints. And they are willing to go so far as to destroy a man’s family and take his livelihood to get their way. I believe that when they hear this story, the people of Virginia will be appalled.”

Luis Padilla, an employee of Cargill, a large employer in the Harrisonburg area, was fired from his job last week for displaying a sign on his personal vehicle. The sign read, “Please, vote for Marriage on Nov. 7."

Upon receiving an initial warning from his employer about the sign, Mr. Padilla removed the sign from his personal vehicle, replacing it only after driving his vehicle off company property. Mr. Padilla’s boss had led him to believe that this would be an acceptable course of action. When he returned to work the next day, Mr. Padilla was careful to park his vehicle outside the company parking lot so as to minimize the “offense” the sign allegedly caused to co-workers.

Despite these efforts to comply with his superiors’ demands, company officials terminated Mr. Padilla’s employment, citing concerns about harassment as the basis for their actions. Rita Dunaway, senior Legal Advisor for the Valley Family Forum, a local grassroots chapter of The Family Foundation of Virginia, sent a letter to Cargill urging his immediate reinstatement.

Yesterday, Cargill responded with a letter rejecting that plea. In their letter, Cargill stated, “Cargill is not required to allow Mr. Padilla to impose his beliefs on his co-workers.”

“It is appalling that a company like Cargill that claims to value diversity would terminate an employee for merely expressing an opinion about the Marriage Amendment,” said Mrs. Dunaway. “Companies that truly value diversity encourage, rather than punish, the benign, respectful type of private expression for which Mr. Padilla was fired. There is simply no way that this sign could have been considered harassment.”

“The action taken by Cargill against Mr. Padilla, the father of two young children, is a tragic example of political correctness run amuck,” according to Valley Family Forum Director Dean Welty. “This action exposes the hypocrisy of people who claim to stand for 'tolerance' but who instead do all they can to silence all opposing views. In this case, those who accuse Mr. Padilla of 'harassment' have themselves become the 'harassers'."

“va4marriage.org and The Family Foundation are currently talking with attorneys to determine what legal options are available to Mr. Padilla,” added Cobb. “We hope this action won’t be necessary and that Cargill will do the right thing by reinstating Mr. Padilla immediately and taking aggressive steps to ensure that this kind of employee harassment and intimidation does not occur again.”"

This is entirely consistent with the far Left's and radical homosexual lobby's war on normality, and demand not merely for tolerance, but for acceptance, detailed in places like David Limbaugh's book Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity.

Another story appears in today's Daily News Record, and gives more of the company's viewpoint. It's abundantly clear, however, that the company's actions are political correctness gone mad.

Despicable.

Dems In Full Hypocrisy Mode

Well, I'm a day late, but Ben Tribbett has mentioned Jim Webb's "towel-head" comment.

According to his (majority Liberal) commenters, and Ben, Jim Webb's recently racist comment is merely "stupid," while George Allen's thiry-year-old racist comments --- assuming the verity of his accusers, which I don't --- are immediately relevant and disqualifying.

It's amazing what you can get away with when you have no shame.

OK. But What's Your Argument?

It seems that the Richmond Times-Dispatch's Bart Hinkle is at least giving aid and comfort to the Chicken Littles screaming about the use of military commissions to try enemy combatants, and the denial of the writ of habeas corpus. He writes:

Is conservatism

(a) Agreeing with anything President Bush says, or

(b) Upholding eternal verities and practices that have proven their worth over time?

Too many these days seem to think the answer is (a). It ain’t. And if the answer is (b), then the ACLU is not out of bounds to call itself in a recent ad “the most conservative organization in America” for opposing the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

That act, so eagerly sought by the Bush administration, weakens the constitutional guarantee of habeas corpus—a right whose recognition in common law goes back to before the Magna Carta of 1215. The ease with which some Republicans have been willing to cast aside almost eight centuries of legal tradition can be called many things, but it cannot be called “conservative.”

Hinkle asks a good first question (one might as vigorously questions the credentials of those who are "willing to cast aside ... centuries of legal tradition" about abortion and "substantive due process" as applied to economic rights, but I digress), but as I pointed out here, the Constitution specifically empowers Congress to suspend the writ, as follows:

"The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."

I suppose one can argue over whether it is appropriate in this case --- I might even agree with them --- but let's not pretend that even suggesting it is unconstitutional. Or that its scope is broader than it is. One incredibly foolish group is even suggesting that it "could allow the government to detain the attorneys themselves as 'enemy combatants.'"

It is equally foolish to challenge the "conservative" credentials of those who believe it to be justified under the circumstances. Unjustified? Perhaps. But please don't merely cite "almost eight centuries of legal tradition" as though the power of that statement alone were sufficient to overcome the threat posed by an enemy unlike any our nation has ever faced, potentially armed with weapons more destructive than any we have ever faced.

Flip-Floppers

The fag lobby yells "Jump!" and they respond with "How high?"

Pathetic.

Another Lie from Dem Nutroots

Back home from Caleeforneeah, as the Governator would say, and was looking through Waldo's indispensible Virginia Political Blog Aggregator, when I came across this gem:

Ronald Reagan legalized border crossing in the early eighties to increase cheap labor and break American unions.

Now, this is nothing more than a flat lie. To what this nutroots idiot appears to refer is the Simpson-Mazzoli Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1986. As it happens, I was on the Hill (working for Congressman George Gekas) and in the House chamber the first time it passed the House in 1984. And as it happens, too, it was passed by a Democrat-controlled House, under the chief sponsorship of Congressman Romano Mazzoli, a Democrat from Kentucky.

'Course, the far Left never lets facts get in the way of a good quasi-Marxist rant.